Letters to the Editor - April 18, 2013

fosters.com

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Posted Apr. 18, 2013 at 3:15 AM

Posted Apr. 18, 2013 at 3:15 AM

To the Editor:

For the last several years I have enjoyed coaching soccer to kids who are 5, 6 and 7 years old. The parent(s) of these kids typically pay for their registration, then extra for a soccer jersey and often they are outfitted to look like a miniature version of a professional soccer player. What really warms my heart though is when the children’s “entourage” comes to cheer them on. The wild cheering is unconditionally positive and occurs regardless of their abilities. Armed with lawn chairs; the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends are screaming encouraging words to support these little athletes. Although I adore these kids, they probably aren’t the kids I’m writing about today.

Today I am writing about children who desperately need someone to get to know them and look out for their best interests. I am writing about the kids I probably won’t get to meet on the soccer field with a slew of doting adults supporting them. The kids I am writing about today are the victims of abuse and / or neglect. These kids’ parents might have had the really good intentions to sign them up for soccer and had the money set aside for registration (along with the car payment and money for groceries) but they used this money instead to go on a bender to numb some of their own pain.

Maybe Mom really loves her three young kids so she leaves the 6 year old in charge of the younger two so they won’t see her go to her friend’s house to shoot up. Perhaps Dad loses his temper a lot and is ashamed that this recently lead to him beating his child and he really wants to stop but in the meantime he can’t risk his child exposing this dirty little secret to the soccer coach. These are the kids that I am trying to find volunteers for; volunteers who will fight for and protect a child’s right to be safe, to be treated with dignity and respect and to learn and grow in the safe embrace of a loving family.

We have a desperate need for volunteer advocates throughout the statewide at this time along with some upcoming trainings in different locations. If you are interested in more information about being trained as a volunteer advocate or in the variety of other ways you can help CASA of NH to help these children, please call me at 752-9670 or email me at jbuteau@casanh.org

Jen Buteau

North Country Training & Recruitment Coordinator

CASA of New Hampshire

www.casanh.org

To the Editor:

U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy, in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage,” described his admiration for those senators who had the courage to stand up to the three types of pressure Senator’s confront: “pressure to be liked, pressure to be re-elected, and pressure of the constituency and interest groups.”

The Kennedy Library, in honor of our nation’s 35th President, established the “Profile in Courage Award,” with the goal of “making Americans aware of the courageous acts of their public servants, and to encourage elected officials to choose the public interest over partisanship — to do what is right, rather than what is expedient.”

Sixteen Republican Senators, including Senator Kelly Ayotte, should be commended for averting a threatened filibuster and allowing a debate and vote on universal background checks, limiting high capacity magazines and a ban on weapons meant solely for the battlefield.

High-ranking NRA lobbyist Chris Cox responded with a letter to certain senators warning them, “Given the importance of these issues, votes on all anti-gun amendments or proposals will be considered in NRA’s future candidate evaluations.”

Ms. Francine Wheeler had something of her own to courageously say to the NRA and the nation when she delivered the President’s Weekly Radio Address: “Sometimes, I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Firehouse for the boy who would never come home — the same firehouse that was home to Ben’s Tiger Scout Den 6. But sometimes I feel Ben’s presence filling me with courage for what I have to do, for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon.”

I guarantee that Senator Shaheen and Representatives Shea-Porter and Kuster share the same sentiments as 90 percent of their constituents. Now the pressure is on the shoulders of Senator Ayotte, who normally receives an “A” rating from the NRA, to provide a critical vote, in defiance of the powerful Gun Lobby, on measures to assist in preventing gun violence in America, with the potential to earn a Profile in Courage Award.